


Odds are we're gonna be alright tonight

by DisplacedWarrior



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Coming Out, F/F, literally no one, no one is straight in the space fam, pre-director sanvers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-17
Updated: 2017-02-17
Packaged: 2018-09-25 01:05:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9795425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DisplacedWarrior/pseuds/DisplacedWarrior
Summary: A rehashing of 2x12's bar scene where Alex isn't the only one who comes out and a surprise visit from Lucy gives Alex a whole lot to think about options she never knew existed. Ft. everyone in the space fam is queer and Maggie and Alex processing like the lesbians they are.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Seriously about the processing though I'm pretty sure more than half of this word count is processing.....

“Well, on Daxam it’s the more the merrier. So—”

"Oh hell no alien boy, if anyone gets first dibs on any ‘extra merriment’ involving Alex it’s me.”

Alex snaps her head around at one of the last voices she expected to hear tonight. She rushes forward scooping Lucy up in a bear hug, keeping her hands on Lucy’s shoulders when she pulls away as if making sure that Lucy was real. That Lucy was actually—

“Lucy?! what are you doing here?”

“Well, how could I possibly miss meeting your mystery _man_ , Alex? Which—”

Lucy holds her palm out grinning manically as Winn sheepishly places a twenty into it and James grumbles, pulling out a fifty and good-naturedly slapping it on top.

“You did good, Agent Danvers.” Lucy says winking over at Maggie.

Alex looks from Winn who’s avoiding eye contact to James’ slightly disgruntled face to Lucy’s self-satisfied grin and already regrets asking, “Do I even wanna know what exactly that bet entailed?”

“Probably not.” Lucy responds, distractedly rummaging through her pockets until she triumphantly holds up a phone. She snaps a picture of her winnings and a few seconds later multiple phones around the table go off.

Kara is halfway out of her seat, ears straining to listen for any sign of impending doom while filtering out Winn’s whining about taking one night off. Alex has produced a comm from _somewhere_ , fitting it into her ear as Maggie reaches for her own phone.

J’onn sits calmly and sips his water because so far he’s the only one who’s noticed Lucy giggling. He’s been a father figure to this motley crew long enough to know he’d rather deal with a full-fledged alien emergency than whatever is causing Lucy Lane to giggle.

But, as there isn’t one, he just stays put and waits for the rest of them to figure it out.

It’s James, phone in hand groaning, “Really, Lucy?” that snaps Kara out of her intense concentration, causing her to check her own phone.

Kara’s unrestrained bark of laughter draws everyone else’s attention.

“It’s not a job for….well any of us, it’s just Instagram.” She explains, turning her phone around to display the picture Lucy had just taken and tagged Winn, James, Kara and Alex in.

The caption reading, Hey @houseofvasquez cleaned up on all the bets tonight not just ours! #theyneverlearn #neverbetagainstthebetterlane #unlessyoulikelosingmoney #thisishowipayforthegoodscotch

Lucy preemptively cuts off Alex’s next question by saying, “You _really_ don’t wanna know what _that_ bet was about.”

In other circumstances Alex would have definitely pushed. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time she demanded answers from the Major turned Director turned friend. Clashes between Alex Danvers and Lucy Lane had become D.E.O legend.

Alex’s eyes widen in sudden startled realization. She shocks nearly everyone present by following the impulse to hide her head in Maggie’s shoulder.

Not that Alex notices the stunned response to her uncharacteristic behavior.

Maggie instinctively brings her hand up to soothingly run her fingers through Alex’s hair despite the slightly awkward angle their heights create.

Alex barely notices that either because she had not until this moment considered that all of the headbutting between her and Lucy even after they sorted out the CADMUS debacle could be chalked up to tension of an entirely different kind.

And _oh Rao_ is that how Lucy _knew_.

Alex latches onto another _slightly_ less disturbing thought than feelings for Lucy—

“Did everyone know except me?” The leather of Maggie’s jacket muffles the pitiful tone of her voice at least.

“Oh Alexandra, you darling ostrich, your gayness can be seen from space. I know this because I had Kara go check.” Lucy teases but then sensing Alex’s actual distress follows up with, “James and Winn were completely clueless if it’s any consolation. Heteronormativity is truly tragic.”

Maggie’s glad Alex hasn’t lifted her head yet because she couldn’t contain her smirk if she tried.

“Can it realllly be heteronormativity if like _no_ one else around this table is straight?” Winn says and by the look on his face Maggie wonders if he meant to say anything at all.

Lucy doesn’t miss a beat, her response immediate, “I think that just makes it worse.”

“Oh, c’mon, that’s not fair we thought Alex was like our token straight person.” Winn states seemingly committed to seeing through his accidently verbalized train of thought.

“Excuse me?” Apparently _that_ escalated matters beyond Alex’s powers of pretending she were somewhere else, Maggie thinks as Alex finally lifts her head.

Honestly though, Alex is mostly convinced she’s panic attacked herself into hallucinating so she’s just checking to see what she’s actually hearing.

Winn looks borderline panicked himself as he a fumbles a response trying to backtrack in the face of Alex’s incredulous ire.

“Okay well I mean that’s not totally true, your wardrobe was always a little— but I try not to stereotype and come to think of it I was probably trying to get the whole token straight person thing off the ground _after_ you’d already figured it out which is ironic considering—

“Schott the point.”

“Right well, I’m bi.” Winn shrugs.

Lucy outright cackles, “Was that the point or a fear response?”

“Both?” Winn answers uncertainly.

James says something that Winn objects to but Alex isn’t paying attention to their conversation anymore. Her gaze locked onto Kara who’s staring intently enough at her club soda that Alex is surprised it isn’t boiling.

“Kara?” Alex’s voice is soft but it cuts easily through the friendly banter. Kara’s head snaps up. Her eyes darting around before finally fixing on a point just over Alex’s shoulder. She jumps up suddenly, wringing her hands together.

“Does anyone else hear that? No? I think it’s a cat. In a tree. A cat in a tree that I can hear because I have super hearing so I’m just gunna—”

“Kara.” The babbling abruptly stops, Kara dropping back down into the chair at the unspoken command in Alex’s voice.”

“Just going to sit right back down and spill my guts apparently.” Kara mutters.

Alex crouches down next to Kara’s chair gently placing her hands on top of her sister’s, while everyone else suddenly finds their drinks extremely interesting.

“You don’t have to spill anything, but you know that you can right? You can always tell me anything.”

“But Alex-”

“ _Anything_ , Kar.”

“It’s just, it’s _my_ fault that it took you so long to find out this _thing_ about yourself that makes you happy. I didn’t want to take anything away from _your_ moment.”

“Hey you know that’s not how this whole sexual...romantic orientation or whatever thing works right?” Alex says gently squeezing Kara’s hand. “You can’t steal mine.”

Kara huffs out a laugh but her voice is quiet when she speaks. “It wasn’t a big deal on Krypton either. Kal was the first natural birth in so long….We had the codex for reproduction, so limiting matches based on gender would’ve only prevented the most powerful alliances from being made.”

“How come you never said?” Kara shrugs but there’s a heaviness settled on her shoulders, the invisible weight of a lost planet.

“I forgot...sort of. I guess you weren’t the only one who pushed things down like they never happened. I was betrothed before—I was promised to the daughter of the only scientist who came close to rivaling my father. And then Krypton was destroyed, everyone else with it…..." Kara spares a moment to remember her people and pray they've found Rao's light. "then I ended up on earth and it was different here and the emphasis was on me not drawing attention to myself so I just _ignored_ it. Which wasn’t a problem really because I’ve always liked guys too so I just focused on that.”

“I’m so sorry, Kara. I wish I’d—

“Hey this is neither of our faults. When you came out I suddenly couldn’t ignore those feelings anymore that I’d spent years brushing off. I freaked out a little because I didn’t want to make everything all about me again not when you were just figuring yourself out for once. So Winn helped and Lucy, I wanted to tell you but….”

“Hey it’s all good, you just did and I could not be happier.” Alex reassures, throwing her arms around Kara. They pull back and Alex tries to discreetly wipe the few stray tears from her eyes.

Desperate to regain some composure Alex turns her attention back on Winn, “And you know if you were trying to keep the whole bi thing on the down-low maybe you should try not literally drooling over Clark and mon-el, just a thought.”

Winn sputters, “I don’t _drool_ —

“Sorry man, but we’ve been thinking of investing in a bucket for you.” James ribs.

“Okay now that’s just rude. And you’re one to talk I’ve seen you get all starry-eyed over Clark yourself.”

“Yes, but I have never drooled over the guy.” James outright laughs at Winn’s pout.

“Please I would’ve preferred the drooling.“ Lucy chimes in as James’ chuckles die immediately. “He _is_ fine specimen, at least the drooling we could have bonded over, the moony eyes were why I broke up with you the first time.”

It’s a testament to their friendship now that James just grins bashfully while Winn yells at the bar for some ice for that burn exchanging a high five with Lucy. Half the table dissolves into laughter when a puzzled Mon-el comes over to hand Winn a Smirnoff Ice.

When it looks like the conversation is not going to move on from Clark anytime soon, Kara pleads “Can we _please_ stop talking about my cousin like this?” Nose scrunched in displeasure and mild disgust.

“Aww it’s okay Kara, everyone falls at your feet too, even if you, like Clark somehow manage not to notice.”

But Kara isn’t as oblivious as Clark bless his farm boy heart, she’s just not _interested_ , there’s a difference. Playing the naive card is infinitely easier though. She may not be interested most of the time but she’s not into breaking hearts either.

“That is not nearly as comforting as you think it is Lucy, in fact that is like the exact opposite.”

“You ever think it’s like a Kryptonian thing? Like pheromones or another superpower or something?” Winn ponders aloud, out of the seven of them assembled he’s pretty sure the only people who haven’t had some kind of _feelings_ for Kara are her sister and their space dad whose own alien physiology could be an additional factor.

“There’s no way...I mean we totally would have noticed before….wait Alex, is that possible? Because if you could do something about all of my friends crushing on me I would really appreciate it. Alex?”

Alex’s brain is too busy short circuiting to hear Kara though. Maggie had already noticed and was pulling up a chair to where Alex was standing at the head of the table discreetly nudging her into it. J’onn gives Maggie an approving nod, Alex’s whirlwind thoughts loud and incoherent enough to start giving him the beginnings of a headache.

Alex cannot believe the depths of her own ignorance or maybe the layers? She had spent so many nights berating herself for not figuring out _she_ was gay sooner. It was so very obvious in hindsight but now she’s wracking her brain because how could she have missed it in those around her too?

She’s a highly skilled, extremely trained government operative and yet...

It doesn’t make any sense and Alex finds herself examining her life again. She hadn’t grown up sheltered or unaware that _gay_ people existed. Growing up colleagues of her parents had _partners_. And her first boyfriend back in Midvale had two dads.

The jokes about James and Clark weren’t new, she had heard Kara gush about enough women to in retrospect realize her sister had a very specific type, and Winn was well Winn but it never truly occurred to her that any of them could be not straight.

Alex is trying to figure out _why_ that is because juxtaposed with all these instances is her friend and college lab partner who was trans, getting dinner with Vasquez and her wife and signing off on forms for a dozen agents serving under her with significant others that placed them somewhere on the spectrum.

How could she be so aware and so dense at the same time. Before she can beat herself up over it too much, Maggie wraps her arms around Alex from behind nuzzling in close to her ear whispering, “I can’t read minds but even I can practically hear your thoughts right now, babe. And it’s ‘cause heteronormativity, it really will getcha every time. Don’t worry about it too much.”

Alex relaxes instantly against Maggie but her mind is still racing, stuck in particular on James. She wants to ask him politely because they aren’t _that_ close and with her own sexuality so freshly examined she’s genuinely curious.

All she manages is some kind of vague half sentence accompanied by some frantic hand motions.

James seems to interpret it just fine though smiling kindly as he answers, “What can I say love is love, I care more about the soul than the package it’s wrapped in.”

Lucy straight up snorts at that, “God, I forgot how cheesy you are, Olsen and if we’re playing the coming out game. I totally bat for both teams.”

“Is this where I say I’m a lesbian? ‘Cause I’m pretty sure Alex already knows that about me.” Alex points a menacing finger in Maggie’s direction or at least it would be menacing if Maggie were anyone else and Alex’s eyes weren’t the size of dinner plates.

Alex was wrong her brain wasn’t short-circuiting before it was short circuiting _now_. Then J’onn’s contribution to the conversation causes Alex’s brain to implode entirely.

“Over three-hundred years on this planet and I’ve never understood the human obsession with policing gender and sexuality.”

“Aww J’onn are you joining in on our coming party.” Lucy’s tone is light but her eyes are shining with such deep sentiment that J’onn wants to roll his eyes in exasperated affection at these ridiculous humans he’s come to care so much about.

He doesn’t, just delivers his next words with an almost expressionless face save for the twinkle in in his eyes. “I come from a species of shapeshifters.” J’onn says it as if that explains everything and well it kind of does.

“Huh. Does that mean—” whatever Winn was intending on saying is cut off by Alex’s head hitting the table with a heavy _thunk_.

“Uh you guys I think we broke Alex.”

“She _is_ ‘screaming internally’ loudly, might I add.” J’onn informs the group while massaging his temples.

“Alex, babe?” Maggie softly queries, hand resting on Alex’s shoulder while her thumb rubs gentle circles at the base of Alex’s neck.

“The internal screaming is intensifying.”

Before Maggie can decide the next best course of action, Lucy plunks a glass of amber liquid in front of Alex. Maggie raises an eyebrow at the hand she rests on Alex’s other shoulder.

At a speed that would put Supergirl to shame Alex downs the glass’ contents before returning her head to the table. J’onn’s sigh of relief indicates that the internal screaming has subsided at least somewhat.

Alex lifts her head a minute later and while no one was sure what they expected her to say it unequivocally was not “You all suck as penguins.”

James seems to be the first to recover asking simply, “I’m sorry, what?”

“I read a study on how, often groups of friends form and then later on they all end up coming out as queer like they sense it about each other and flock together like penguins huddling for warmth in a cold, cruel heteronormative world! Ok actually I think that last part was from a tumblr post Kara sent me BUT you—”

Alex points at Winn, “said ‘it’s not like you like this Maggie person’ and you, Lucy thought I liked Maxwell fuckin’ Lord and you—” Alex spins around to point at Kara “Well everything you know about humans is basically my fault so you get a free pass the rest of you however are all a terrible rookery!”

It takes three seconds of complete silence before Maggie absolutely fucking loses it collapsing into a fit of debilitating laughter that has her clutching her stomach and falling into Alex’s lap when her body can no longer hold itself up from the mirth.

Everyone else follows suit even Alex and any lingering seriousness from their impromptu coming out session dissipates.

Maggie is the first to compose herself, wiping the tears from her eyes and standing up. She drops a kiss on the side of Alex’s head and wanders over to Winn asking him if he plays pool.

It turns out pool is not easy just because it’s geometry with sticks and Winn gets banned from the pool table after his first nearly lethal shot.

They end up playing a game of doubles, James and Maggie against Alex and Lucy. As much as J’onn likes Maggie and can see her fitting into their ragtag little family perfectly, there is no way he’s betting against _his_ girls this round.

James and Maggie lose spectacularly even with Winn’s shouted geometry tips, which is actually what James blames their loss on.

Maggie observes the way Alex and Lucy move in each other’s space completely at ease. Alex had been tense at first and Maggie thinks Alex may have connected the dots to some previously misidentified feelings. They find their rhythm again quickly enough and it’s a sight to behold, honestly.

Maggie finds herself torn between an unexpected rush of heat and creeping tendrils of fear because at this point she _can’t_ imagine her life without Alex in it.

James challenges Alex to a game of darts, “I trained against Kryptonian hand-eye coordination. Darts is my game!”

As much as Maggie wants to watch Alex wipe the floor with him, seriously did he forget who her sister is or that Alex is D.E.O trained?

Not that Maggie is sure the D.E.O is responsible for her proficiency in just about every weapon ever which includes your standard throwing knives and shuriken but also axes and most notably a chakram which Maggie hadn’t even realized was an actual weapon until Alex gleefully picked up Maggie’s Xena inspired replica and started showing off.

Shaking off thoughts of Alex in nothing but warrior princess gauntlets, Maggie hangs back.

She settles into the chair beside Lucy who’s watching from across the room as Alex horses around with Winn while James fetches the darts.

Lucy’s not even being subtle about it.

“Should I be worried about you?” Maggie forces a casual lit to her voice, won’t let this formidable woman hear the crack of dread in her voice.

“I see they weren’t playing up your ability to ‘detect’ things detective.”

“Or your ability to evade a question, counselor.” Lucy smirks, at the witty repartee but it fades from her face quickly. She almost surprises herself with how truthful, if vague a response she gives the woman who stole Alex’s heart.

“It’s why I left.”

Maggie nods, she’s well versed in this game of saying nothing but meaning everything, “You never told her.”

Lucy sighs. “I thought I broke the cardinal rule, never fall for a straight girl. Well, first, I thought I was going a little crazy. She had girls falling at her feet and never even noticed but there were times she would look at me and…..” Lucy shakes her head, eyes staring at nothing as memories replay in her head.

“Anyway, I realized either Alex was straight or so far in the closet she had dual-citizenship in Narnia. Either way, I figured I should at least try and get over her so I went to Washington. Threw myself into work, trying to cut through the remaining red tape pertaining to CADMUS as a government project, looking for anything to help us get ahead of them now.”

Maggie files that away for later because CADMUS is bigger than all of them and any break they can get in the case against the terrorist organization would be a welcome one.

“And then Alex came out so now you’re back?” Maggie tries not to let her hackles rise. She wasn’t a jealous person by nature. She felt that if you had open communication there was no _need_ to be jealous. It was just hard to silence the voices of her demons spitting her ex's' accusations and the whisperings that Lucy’s arms would be there for Alex to fall into when the shine of being Alex’s first rusted over Maggie.

Lucy smiled sadly, “I’ve been back for almost three months.” Maggie couldn’t stop the surprise from registering on her face. Maggie had honestly not been expecting that and Lucy reveled in getting a reaction from the typically composed woman.

“Coming back to get the girl was my original plan though so you weren’t entirely wrong.”

“What changed?”

“I’ve never seen her this happy. Vasquez had been keeping me up to date on more than just D.E.O business and when I found out some moron, some _female_ moron rejected Alex and broke her heart. I decided I needed to come back and kick somebody’s ass and maybe woo Alex if she’d have me but loose ends took longer than expected to tie up and by the time I got back you had gotten your head out of your ass. So I let it be.”

“For the record I was trying to do right by both of us. I had just gotten out of a relationship and she was coming out more for me than for herself.”

“Please if the roles were reversed tell me you’d have been sitting where I was going ‘hmmm I’m sure the girl who hurt Alex had her heart in the right place’.”

Maggie was a bit disgruntled to find herself kind of liking Lucy, “ Whatever. Fine if the roles were reversed I probably would have wanted to kick my ass too.”

“Nice that you can admit it. All I want Detective, is for Alex to be happy. She is, so to answer you earlier question you don’t have anything to worry about from me. I’m won’t interfere.”

Maggie looks at Lucy who’s eyes have been drawn back to Alex doing some dorky dance as she schools James in darts. Maggie’s seen that look before in candid pictures and in her own mirror.

“You love her.” Lucy freezes from where she was about to stand from the bar stool, turning her head and trying to get a read as to why Maggie would say _that_ when Lucy had just waved the proverbial white flag.

Lucy Lane can tell when people are lying even when a machine built for that very purpose fails at the task but she cannot for the life of her figure out what Maggie’s angle is in this moment.

Or rather why it feels like she doesn’t have one. Maybe that’s why she answers truthfully instead of just walking away.

“Yea, I do.” Lucy feels the sad half-smile that graces her features and unconsciously wraps her arms around herself seeking comfort.

Maggie nods like she knew that was the answer when she asked and Lucy fights the urge to bristle. So she’s all the more caught off guard when Maggie asks, “Were you serious about the ‘dibs on extra merriment’ comment?”

Lucy does a double take because, “Wait, what.”

“Their alien fratbro friend the one who said it was the more the merrier on his planet, was your comment a witty one-liner designed to make an entrance or did you mean it?”

“Why?” Lucy asks warily.

“God, you always answering a question with a question is quickly becoming my least favorite thing about you.”

“You already have a favorite thing about me then?” Lucy bats her eyelids, confused but never about to turn down a chance to be a charming pain in the ass.

“Dude!”

“Okay fine yes I was serious, I’m sorry if I _offended_ you.”

“You didn’t.” Lucy raises an eyebrow but says nothing.

“Offend me. You didn’t offend me...I’m assuming here, since you have feelings for her you weren’t just talking about some threesome action…. So look here’s the thing I don’t actually know where Alex stands on polyamorous relationships, I don’t even know if she knows they’re an _option_ and I just want her to be happy too, ya know so if you love her you should tell her. I have no intention of letting her go as long as she wants me around and it’s not like you need my permission but since you just said you weren’t going to interfere...What I’m trying to say is I wouldn’t be opposed to coming to some kind of arrangement if that’s what Alex wanted.”

“You’re serious?!” Lucy can’t keep the incredulity from her voice.

“Why would I joke about something like this?” Maggie hisses back equally incredulous.

“Now who’s being infuriating it’s a figure of speech!”

Alex chooses that moment to wander over, eyebrows disappearing into her hairline as she observes the weird tension simmering between her girlfriend and her….and Lucy.

“Everything okay over here?” She asks tentatively, eyes darting between the two women.

“Everything’s good babe.” Maggie assures her with an easy smile, leaning in for a quick kiss, “I’m just heading to the bathroom, be right back.” She gives Lucy a pointed look over her shoulder as she disappears into the crowd.

“Alex watches until she loses sight of her and then spins around, eyes narrowing “Okay what the _hell_ was that?”

Lucy knows instinctively it’s the wrong move, not the proper way to kick off this conversation but she can’t help it as her lips curl into a grin. She places her elbow on the table and props her chin up in her hand, looking up through her lashes, “I really have missed you, Alex.”

Lucy expects Alex to square her shoulders and maybe yell a bit. She expects an invasion of personal space and words with hard edges. Lucy expects Alex to scoff, to roll her eyes, to brush off the sentiment in pursuit of answers. She expects Alex to _demand_ those answers.

So Lucy just about falls out of her chair, elbow slipping right out from under her when Alex’s entire countenance softens and she says, “I missed you too, Luce.”

Lucy loses herself in Alex’s eyes, not noticing when Alex’s brow furrows because of it.

“That doesn’t mean I don’t still wanna know what the hell that little exchange between you and my girlfriend was about.” Alex eventually says breaking the moment and lightly bumping shoulders with Lucy.

“Noticed that did you?”

“Well, I _was_ trained by the best.”

“Hmm, that’s odd I don’t remember training you.” Lucy grins and Alex blushes but also punches Lucy lightly in the shoulder.

“Lucy.” And Alex’s eyes lose just a little bit of that playful light. Lucy can see the concern building that maybe someone isn’t as okay as they made it seem about her and Maggie.

“Right, but listen to everything before making your final judgments?”

“‘Cause that doesn’t sound ominous at all.” Alex tries to scoff but Lucy can see the anxiety building and rushes to head it off really not having meant to cause Alex any distress.

“I left because I had feelings for you.” Lucy never was one to mince words. Alex’s eyes widen and she opens her mouth but no sound comes out which suits Lucy perfectly because she isn’t finished quite yet so she powers through.

“I wasn’t going to say anything, I came back awhile ago and you were with Maggie so I just decided to lay low but I was talking with Maggie, which she is amazing by the way and hot, you landed a good one. Anyway, she picked up on my feelings and we got to talking and I’m not here trying to win you from her but I don’t think that I’m wrong that there was something between us before I left or that you still feel that spark now.”

Lucy could see the denial rising in Alex’s throat, sense the anger swirling in her eyes at what she no doubt perceived as an attack on her feelings for Maggie.

“Hey, I’m not invalidating what you feel for Maggie or trying to get you break up with her to be with me.”

“Really ‘cause that’s kind of what it sounds like.” Alex spits having found her voice and her anger.

“I swear I’m not, I do want to take you out though on a date but with Maggie’s blessing or take both of you out even.” Alex has essentially frozen and Lucy doesn’t know whether that’s a good sign or a bad one.

“Just think about it? Talk it over with Maggie, maybe? You know where to find me if you decide to take me up on the offer or we can pretend this never happened because I really don’t want to lose you as a friend, Alex.”

Lucy waits for any sign of acknowledgment but after a few minutes where Alex still hasn’t moved Lucy figures she should probably just go. She said her piece, the ball was in Alex’s court now.

She hesitates wishing she could hug Alex good-bye but not willing to cross that line now that she’s spilled her guts to Alex’s silence.

Lucy nods, mostly to herself. “I’ll see you around then, Agent Danvers.”

Alex watches Lucy go more confused than she’s been in a while.

Maggie appears by her shoulder an instant later. The timing too perfect to be anything other than Maggie waiting until she finished her conversation with Lucy. Kara has long since left, J’onn not too far behind her and Alex blindly reaches for Maggie’s hand, her voice nearly inaudible when she asks if they can just go home.

Maggie nods and guides Alex towards the exit, both of them throwing waves to Winn and James who are engrossed in a conversation with some ‘new friends’ across the bar.

Maggie tries not let the concern show on her face when a lost in thought Alex tosses Maggie the keys to her Ducati, to her _baby_ and _gets on the back of her own bike._

Alex is quiet on the ride back but Maggie knows that if she were J’onn, Alex would be projecting her thoughts loud enough to unintentionally hear. She can’t read minds though so she has to content herself with the solid weight of Alex against her back and Alex’s hand gripping her waist.

The trek up to Alex’s apartment is made in the same heavy silence but Maggie breathes a little easier when Alex interlaces their fingers along the way.

Alex kicks off her shoes as they walk through the front door making a beeline for the kitchen without bothering to take off her jacket.

Maggie is worried that Alex is going straight for the whiskey but she emerges with a kettle instead that she sets to boil.

Alex’s voice breaks the silence and then Maggie’s heart when she tearfully asks, “Do you want to see other people?”

Maggie scrambles over to the other side of the island stopping just outside of Alex’s personal space but Alex closes the distance immediately sinking into Maggie’s arms as the tears start to fall in earnest.

Maggie guides them over to the couch murmuring reassurances and gently stroking Alex’s head.

Alex composes herself curling up in the corner furthest from Maggie. “Did I do something or—

“Ally, no you didn’t do anything, I’m not trying to break-up with you and I am perfectly happy being in a committed relationship with you and only you.”

Alex feels her heart rate slow and the swirling tide of panic and insecurity recede enough to give way to her original confusion.

“But Lucy—then why….”

Maggie reaches out a hand resting it between them in invitation, not demand. Alex shifts enough to lace their fingers together but remains in her corner.

“I don’t ever want to limit you, Alex, I love you.” Maggie begins, tenderly brushing her thumb across Alex’s knuckles. “I saw the way you and Lucy move around each other and when we were talking I saw how much she cares about you. Also, you talk about her, ya know, not a lot or anything but you don’t really do that much, talk about people outside your sphere. So I know she’s important to you. I don’t want to lose you and I have no intentions of going anywhere. Just if you wanted to explore things with Lucy, I’m okay with that .”

“So you want just me to see other people?” Alex asks face scrunched trying wrap her mind around her girlfriend telling her it’s okay to date someone else while keeping at bay the gut reaction of this is how it all ends despite Maggie’s reassurance that this is not, in fact, a break-up.

“That’s not quite what I meant. Not that there’s anything wrong with that in general as long as all parties involved are in the know and consent. Is that the issue, ‘other people’? Because whatever Lucy said I’m guessing is what set all this off.”

“I mean I guess, Lucy said that she didn’t want to break us up but she did want to date me with your blessing and I guess that just didn’t compute? I don’t—I just—it’s...seeing other people is generally code for I want to break up or I wanna sleep around but I don’t want you going anywhere while I do it.” Alex’s eyes are trained on a throw pillow next to her as she picks at its seams.

“Hey, would you look at me?” Maggie waits until Alex’s eyes reluctantly meet hers.” I promise you that this absolutely neither of those things. What do you know about polyamory?”

“Uh not much I guess, the word itself is pretty self explanatory poly coming from the Ancient Greek polús meaning ‘many’ combined with the Latin amor meaning ‘love’ plus the Middle English suffix -y meaning ‘having the quality of’ so essentially just literally meaning ‘many loves’. Oh and Kara tried to get me to Sister Wives but I was not a fan.” Alex ended the sentence with a nose scrunch while Maggie wondered what she had done to deserve this amazing adorkable woman.

“Yea that’s polygamy, well a kind of polygamy, one that’s an entirely different can of not great worms. Also only you would think ancient etymology is self-explanatory, nerd. ”

Alex can’t help but duck her head a bit trying to hide the blush rushing to her cheeks. “So then what’s the difference?”

“Well in Sister Wives the husband is allowed to have multiple wives but those women aren’t allowed to have any other partners themselves, right? “ at Alex’s nod she continues, “Basically the implications of that kind polygamy is pretty gnarly. Religions or societies that practice it usually see women as property. Polyamory is just ethical non-monogamy simple as that.”

Alex tilted her head, Maggie smiled because she noticed it was a habit Alex had started picking up from her. Only Alex also had her ‘lab face’ on clearly working through the information presented to her like a complex equation. Maggie found the combination alarmingly attractive.

“So are you polyamorous?”

“I’ve never really used that label for myself. It’s not something I’ve ruled out on principle but I’m mostly fine being monogamous…..monogamy is...not easier but simpler? If for no other reason than you’re only dealing with a singular other person in your relationship. I’ve know people in successful poly relationships and a number of aliens don’t even have the concept of monogamy but my work hours barely leave me time for one other person in a relationship and well it’s been established I don’t care about many people to begin with.”

Maggie grins lightly bumping her shoulder against Alex’s. “That said I’ve been a third in one night stands or friends with benefits type situations. Although I guess from my perspective that would be more polysexuality. The friends with benefits were in an open relationship so they were in a polyamorous relationship but the situation itself was polysexual? I kind of think it’s just semantics at that point but in the spirit of trying not to misrepresent anything....”

Maggie can’t quite gauge the look on Alex’s face so she’s trying to mentally prepare herself for any and all possible reactions.

“So you’ve had threesomes?”

“I have, does that bother you?”

“No, it’s just not something I think I’ve ever given thought to outside of bad porn…”

Maggie can’t help but laugh, “Well, that’s definitely not a great basis for how those situations typically work.”

“That’s a relief then.” Alex teases before going quiet again. Maggie reaches out to tuck a lock of hair behind Alex’s ear.

“Are you doing okay?”

“I’m just..I don’t know overwhelmed? Six months ago I thought I just wasn’t built to experience romantic love or enjoy sex at all and now…”

“Now…” Maggie prompted doing that thing where she tilted her head at just the right angle to really make the steady compassion and understanding in her eyes shine.

“And now I have an amazing girlfriend who I love more than I knew was possible and we have earth-shattering sex... ALOT of earth shattering sex. I honestly didn’t know I could be this happy.”

“But?”

“It’s not a but so much as I don’t understand how I can be so utterly in love with you but also maybe have feelings for Lucy too? Or how you could possibly be okay with me having feelings for someone else.”

“Humans don’t have some set capacity for how much they can love, Alex. I thought you were a doctor shouldn’t you know this stuff.” Maggie says, mock-aghast.

“Maggie, I’m serious.”

“So am I. You love me right?”

“So damn much.” Alex says, barely letting Maggie finish the question.

“And would you ever cheat on me?”

“What no, of course not Maggie!”

“Okay well cheating by definition is literally ‘breaking the rules’. This is our relationship Alex, we make the rules nobody else. So if we both agree that you can date Lucy and Lucy knows that’s the situation she’s stepping into then everyone is aware and everyone is consenting. They key is being open and honest and adhering to agreed upon guidelines. As long as you still love me and you’re not keeping things from me why wouldn’t I be okay with it?”

Alex knew it would be a learning process or maybe an unlearning one in order to truly internalize the idea that a relationship could exist between more than two people without guaranteed heartbreak but she reasoned she had time.

“You Maggie Sawyer are the most incredible woman I’ve ever met.”

“Nah, just crazy in love with you, Danvers.” Alex shakes her head but surges forward to kiss Maggie senseless just the same.

Before she can get too lost in the sensation Alex forces herself to stand from the couch and head over to the stove to turn off the long forgotten kettle. When she’s close enough to Maggie again, Alex extends her hand, “Would you come hold me?”

Maggie smiles softly, grabbing Alex’s outstretched hand and rising from the couch. They wordlessly go about their nightly rituals before meeting in the middle of Alex’s giant bed, Maggie holds out her arms and lets Alex snuggle blissfully into her side.

Maggie combs her fingers repeatedly through Alex’s shorter hair, lightly scratching her scalp and idly toying with the ends.

“Still doing okay with the whole latest in shifting worldview and personal revelations?” Alex traces Maggie’s hip focusing on the skin underneath her fingertips as she seriously considers her answer.

“It’s a lot to process but yeah I think I might be.”

“Well you aren’t on any kind of deadline. You can take all the time you need to think about it, you know that right?”

“I know...I just—I—I think I might want to try? There are too many people in my life I know I’ll never get closure with,” Alex thinks of Vicky not dead but just as far out of reach and her bunkmate from D.EO. training who was the first casualty Alex had to mourn in her new high stakes life.

She doesn’t think of Astra because some wounds are too painful to even after they've somewhat healed. “I don’t ever want Lucy added to that list. Especially if there’s this other option I never considered?”

“Okay, then.” Maggie says, pressing a kiss to Alex’s temple.

“Just like that?”

“If that’s your decision, then yea. You should find Lucy whenever you’re ready and make sure she takes you somewhere nice for the first date.”

Alex realizes she’s absolutely going to need an adjustment period to this, so she has to ask, “And you’re absolutely sure about this?” Maggie shifts just enough that she can look into Alex’s eyes.

“I want you to be happy Ally but I would never flat out agree to anything that I wasn’t comfortable with to make it happen.That wouldn’t be fair to either of us and I'd expect the same from you. So we need to promise the first issue either one of us has with anything, we talk about it and we work it out okay? That’s the only way this will work and I love you too much to not at least try yea?. So I Promise.”

“I promise too, Mags.”

“Well alright then, this is going to be an ongoing discussion to make sure everyone’s on the same page ya know but I think we’ve got this.”

Alex burrows in closer murmuring a soft, "We're pretty awesome." into Maggie's shoulder. It's quiet for long enough that Maggie would have been comfortable betting that Alex fell asleep when she feels Alex shift in her arms.

“Hey Maggie, would you um..would you maybe... would you come with me on the date?”

“You want me to come with you on your date with Lucy?”

“If that’s something you’d be comfortable with? It’s just I know logically that it isn’t but I think it would feel too much like cheating if I went alone.”

“Okay,” Maggie nods, digesting the information, “So do you want me there as a ‘chaperone’ or as more of an active participant?”

Alex tilts her head in question. Maggie takes a minute to gather her thoughts running a hand through her hair, “I mean I figured I would be dating you and Lucy would also be dating you and we would set up our boundaries and rules so that we’re all aware and consenting. And group dates could totally be a part of that but are you asking me to like supervise or just kind of be there or are you looking for this to be a we’re all dating each other situation?”

“Would that be something you’d be interested in, also dating Lucy? ‘Cause she kinda indicated she’d be down for that.”

“Honestly I’m not sure, I mean I don’t really know her, ya know.”

“That’s a fair point.”

“Although, I mean we both fell for you so clearly she has good taste. I just hadn’t really considered it. I’m not hardcore against the idea but is that something you’d be okay with? ”

Alex was surprised to realize she was actually more comfortable with the idea of all of them dating than dating Lucy and Maggie separately but she decides to keep that to herself just a bit longer to ruminate over.

“So maybe we treat it as a first date for all of us? You and Lucy can get know each other more, feel each other out, Lucy and I can see how our ‘spark’ translates to dating and we take it from there whether we continue in any kind of configuration with Lucy moving forward?”

Maggie beams, pulling Alex into a deep kiss, “Have I ever mentioned how much good communication turns me on?”

“That is extremely weird but also very comforting,” Alex shakes her head in amusement before dipping back down for another kiss.

“So, one step at a time?”

“Yea, one step at a time sounds good.”

“Okay, so you’ll talk to Lucy and set up the date or do you want me there?”

“I can handle it. Unless you want to be there since we’re trying the whole together thing?”

“I’ll let you take the reigns on this first one. Now I believe there was some earlier mention of earth shattering sex?”

“Hmm was there? I don’t know if I remember that.”

“I guess I’ll just have to remind you then.” Maggie growls playfully, flipping Alex over and pinning her to the bed.

They’re both late to work the next morning and Alex realizes she’s going to have quite a bit to adjust to indeed when Lucy's usual merciless teasing turns into blatant flirting that makes Alex hightail it to the locker room for a cold shower.

**Author's Note:**

> So this is totally intended as a one-shot. I'm not ruling the possibility that I may one day write the date but there are 3 stories that def take precedence 4 if you count the 'Dragon's offer Fate' sequel that has been sketched out in my drafts since October and will probably never see the light of day. 
> 
> I just couldn't get this out of my head well I couldn't get the first 2 sentences out my head and then it spiraled into whatever the fuck this is. Hope ya'll enjoyed. [change-the-rules](http://change-the-rules.tumblr.com/) is where you can find me if so inclined.


End file.
